Shelving for stock-rooms.



G. T. MuINTOSH.

SHELVING FOR STOCK ROOMS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 5, 1908.

949, 1 96. Patented Feb. 15, 1910.

INK/ffblTOR 5 a W BY ATTYs GEORGE T. MOINTOSH, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

SI-IELVING FOR STOCKROOMS.

Application filed October 5,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 15, 1910.

1908. Serial No. 456,121.

[0 all whom it may concern: l

Be it known that I, GEORGE T. MoINrosrI, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shelving for Stock-Rooms, and do declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improvement in shelving for stock rooms, and the invention consists in a ladder shelving which is stepped and C011l1)21It-I11Gl1l(3(l and provided with hand-rails at convenient intervals running with the compartments or sub-divisions of the shelving, all substantially as shown and described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, the single View of the invention therein presented exhibits the invention in its preferred form, and shows a shelving which is unitary structurally and comprises successive shelves 1, 2, 3, at, 5, and (3, in this instance, running from bottom to top, but which may be more or fewer in number as shall be found convenient and not counting the floor. \Valls 1V divide the shelving lengthwise into so-called compartments or sub-divisions, which come at regular intervals, and the said walls have varying depths front to rear corresponding to the depth of the shelves at the different elevations. 'l. he first three shelves are shown as stopped and hence of decreasing depth successively, while the several shelves above shelf and step 3 are of the same depth. Preferably, also, all the shelves are open 01' without drawers. The highest step 3 is at such elevation that a person can stand thereon and comfortably reach goods on the high est shelf in the casing and the lowest or first step is shown as a seat as well as a step. But such shelving would be incomplete and inconvenient without means to assist in climbing from step to step as well as in moving about thereon, and I have therefore pro vided the same with a series of hand-rails or rods 10, which correspond to the respective division walls or uprights 8 between the several compartments and which are arranged immediately over the front edge of each of said walls and at a rearward inclination from base to top, thereby bringing the upper ends of said rails to the immediate edge of the top of the shelving and the lower ends to the front edge of step 2, in this instance. It will also be observed that step 2 is at such elevation in respect to the floor of the room that a man can easily reach the said handrails from the floor and use them to assist in ascending the steps. BU'ItllellUOl'Q, the several compartments as defined by the walls \V have such relative nearness one to the other that a person can conveniently grasp adjacent rails with his hands and thus make his ascent correspondingly easy. Hence it will be seen that in order to make a stepped ladder shelving of this character and elevation available for constant use in a busy store the hand-rails are indispensable, and their present arrangen'ient is believed to be the most convenient that can be devised, because the rails are so disposed as to be convenient for all the purposes of ascent and descent as well as to pass from one compartment to another along the shelving. This construction also has the obvious and material advantage of being always in place and always ready for use, and all without the attendant noise and inconvenience of moving ladders and the like as ordinarily employed.

It may also be noted that this shelving is so constructed and arranged that movements over the same may be diagonally across all its stepped portion in addition to direct up and down movement or lengthwise from compartment to compartment at different elevations. The steps and hand-rails also afford convenience for persons to pass each other on the shelving in opposite directions.

The hand-rails may be substituted by suitable handholds at intervals in or on the division walls W, or in or upon the front edges of the shelves at successive elevations, so that a person can use the same in ascending and descending the shelves and in passing along the compartments about the same as he would the rails, but for sundry reasons, the rails are preferred.

What I claimv is:-

1. A unitary ladder shelving for merchandisc having vertical walls sub-dividing the same into compartments side by side and having a plurality of step shelves of different depths at the bottom and a series of shelves of equal depth at the top and handgrips extending across said shelving corresponding to the walls of said compartments and inclined inward from their lower to their upper ends, said hand-grips being spaced apart such a distance as to enable both hands to be employed in making an ascent.

2. A ladder shelving for merchandise di- 5 vided lengthwise by Walls into a series of compartments and having its lower portion provided with step shelves of relatively diminished depth from the bottom upward, and hand-rails extending across said shelv- 10 ing in front of said division Walls and inclined inward from bottom to top the said shelving having a continuous seat forming the first step and said hand rails starting With the step-shelf next above said seat.

In testimony whereof I sign this specifica- 15 tion in, the presence of two Witnesses.

GEORGE T. MGINTOSH. Vitnesses \VM. KIRK, JR, R. B. Mosnn. 

